April 17th, 2012 04:25 AM

Beware of the avian flu.

Poultry products like chicken, Peking duck and century eggs from Taiwan are now banned from entering the Philippines after an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in a broiler breeder farm in the Liou-Jia District, Tai-nan, Taiwan, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Monday.

The DA has released a memorandum order prohibiting the entry of domestic and wild birds, poultry meat, chicks and eggs from Taiwan to “prevent the entry of the HPAI virus (and) protect the health of the local poultry population as well as humans.”

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The Philippines is one of the few countries in Asia that is bird flu-free, a status that has given the country more export opportunities. Recently, South Korea said it would import chicken products from Filipino poultry producers.

The Philippines’ poultry and livestock sectors have expanded in the last two years, the DA said, with the poultry subsector growing by 4.34 percent in 2011, and the livestock subsector by 1.99 percent.

Last month, the DA said, Japanese investors and quarantine officers were scheduled to inspect various slaughterhouses and processing sites in Mindanao and Luzon. Kristine L. Alave